THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1378, 2 March 1912, Page 9

THE THEATRE.

(Br Snvius.)

Tho World's a theatre; the Earth a stage.—Hey wood. Blascheck To-pight, Dlaschcck is not a pretty name. It jars and scrapes, and is full of sharp uneven angles. Once you have tho courage to pronounce it boldly you can never forget it. Blascheck is a monologuist, humorist, reciter, raconteur—what you will—who is said to bo a most proficient entertainer. We have had few of the kind in Wellington. Mel. B. Spurr it is impossible to forget. That merry little fellow, so chock full of fun and character, packed the old Exchange- Hall (now the Don Restaurant) until it nearly burst, and gave us many delightful impersonations and recitations, his worst effort, to my mind being "Not Understood," and his best the famous after-dinner speeches—"The Army, the Navy, and the—haw! haw I—Volunteers!",- . Loslie Harris was very clever, too. His 1 work at the piano was excellent, and ho had tho magnetic power that compelled attention. ~.,',. Others whom we have heard in the line come a good deal after the two mentioned. Now we have Blascheck—the man with a name like a Tusty crosscut saw under repair. Ho appears at the Opera House this evening, assisted by Miss Mildred Wrighton—a name full of quiet charm.

The Coming of Ethel Irving. One wonders if the Wellington playgoin" public know exactly what awaits them in the coming of Miss Ethel Irving. In these days, when the managerial pun is ever pitched in the superlative about every show and artist, and without any thou"ht of restraint or consideration for dcree, there is just a remote chance of a truly brilliant artist being taken for a mere passer-by. No such mistake, however, is conceivable in the case of Miss Irving. The writer had the pleasure of seeing her in "Lndv Frederick" in Sydney a few months a"o, and can vouch for the quality of this finished and fascinating actress-one of the finest comediennes known to the English stage. : With little extraneous graces to aid her, Miss Irving nevertheless has that at her command which can command both laughter and tears. As Frederick—the winsome Irishwoman who is perpetually in debt—sho is just a dear delightful person with a heart of gold and a wit set with first-water diamonds. It is a part cf. parts, of course, but not one of tho kind which no actress could fail in. It calls for character, tho glowing spirit tf high comedy, and dramatic power to hold tenso the audience which she has been subtly tickling a minute or two before. In "The Witness for the Defence," we hnvo a serious play, with Miss Irving as a dramatic actress. In this role, her work has been compared favourably to that of Miss Margaret Anglin and Miss Lena Ashwell. Good company to be in!

"Lady Frederick'" is due at the Opera House- on Saturday evening next.

A Now Star. "Little Boy Blue," an operetta by Rudolph Schanzcr and Carl Lindau, has been produced in New York at the end of November. It discovered a new star in Miss Gertrude Bryan, who is reported to have made a mammoth hit. "It is not too much to say," remarks one paper, "that Miss Bryan is the musical comedy find of .the season. A moro fascinating' and winsome figure has not been reflected by metropolitan footlights in a long time."

"My Partner" Revived. It is many years (says the Sydney "Sun") since "My Partner" was produced in Sydney by Mr. Kignold. It has been entirely rewritten by Mr. Baker, and tho band of an artist has touched up its scenes. Tenso situations there are in plenty, and tho picturesque effects aro many, but much of the conventionality of old-timo melodrama has gone. Tho players have not to shout to hold their audience; they lead them by the liner qualities of good acting. .Nothing could bo moro effectivo in tho way of an artistic touch than tho closing scono of the first.act, where Joe Saunders (Mr. Walter Baker) compels his partner, Ned.Singleton (Mr. Herbert J. lientley) to take an, oath that ho will marry Mary Brandon (Miss ; Frances lioss), with whom both are in love. There, in the recesses of tho Californian mountains, .Tee Saunders is left alone, the sun goes down, tho twilight gleams on the outline of a despairing man. As tho curtain fell, and tho lights went up, there wcro signs of tears in women's eyes, and lumps in men's throats. From the first act to tho closing of the fourth there are stago pictures like this, beautifully framed, and rich in colour.

Mr. Walter Baker's musical-speaking voice is as mellilluous as ever. It is his subdued manner, his quiet natural way, that makes every character he creates "a real flesh and blood human being. Of Joe Saunders, digger, the actor made a man of emotional parts and large-hearted sympathies. Ho made tho nudienco feel his emotions, and/from a common-place typo created a great character.

"The Lady of Coventry." Under this title Mr. Louis N. Parker has written a play round tho Lady Godiva incident. When produced in New York on November 21, the "Theatru" said:— "Lady Godiva's ride has long been the subject of legend, song), poetry, and drama. It is romantic because impossible to modern thought, and because it has the accent of purity among a warlike and savago people who put out tho eyes of Peeping Tom. It is a pretty story with-' out a particle of drama in its main incident. Mr. Louis N. Parker has given it a. new turn. The Saxon chieftain, Leofric the Wolf, claimant of the Lady Godiva's land, besieges her first as tho warrior and then as her lover. In the play her name has been changed to Dorothea, which is of no consequence, as she perforins the ride covered by her abundant hair and protected by tho order that jiono shall see her. It was Leofric the AVolf who gave his promiso to shield her by this order after he found that his command that she ride was irrevocable under some tribal or religious law. Her people wero to go free in event she submitted to the ordeal. He. alone breaks his edict made to protect her; ho becomes the Peeping Tom. He will suffer tho penalty of his own proclamation. She urges him' to reconsider, and bids him look into her eyes and read there her feeling for him. He does* so, clasps her in his arms, and the war is over. To make anything out of this a great deal of noise, breaking in of doors and threatenings of slaughter hail to bo applied to tho action. There were clamorous doings, invocations, execrations; pleadimrs, defiance, and incidental coinbats. The externals of drama abounded. As a picture play of a make-believe action it" was effective. It was poetic and picturesque. Miss Viola Allen was never better in poses and impassioned speech."

The Coming of "The Blue Bird." "Tho Blue Bird" opens in Sydney on Easter Saturday. The company that is to be entrusted with the Australian production varies very little in personnel from that which made the London success of Maurice Maeterlinck's mystical fairy play, and are now on the eve of sailing for Australia. The extraordinary success of "The Blue Bird" instances once again the fact that whenever a playright, be ho never so elect, touches the real human note he becomes, however reluctant,'a popular dramatist, words that in their ordinary acceptance, are almost an anathema to them. It was thus with Bernard Shaw, who has reached the distinction or degradation (it all depends on the point of view) of sixpenny editions, and it is so with Maeterlinck, who before "The Blue Bird" was dramatised was writing for the few. His "Plays for Marionettes," which preceded "The Blue Bird," were poetical little things, of the most intimate description, and it is said that "The Blue Bird" was meant to come into the same category, instead of which it has worked into a "world-wide success. Certainly it is a fairy play, and this clement of makebelieve must account for the admiration of a great many, but there is ill it at the same time a note of clear, unmistakable reality, which arrests the attention, and captures the interest of more mat-ter-of-fact folk, who liko tli;< stones which seem to them so true because they reflect something more or less of their thoughts and experiences.

A Stickler for DstaiJ. Oscar Ascho is nothing if not n stickler for detail. It is this characteristic which has made him one of tlio most notable producers in the world, and which

achieved for "Kismet" a. run of close upon ■100 nights in London. In the ]>];iy appear a iiimibor of Nubians—real Nubians, not supernumeraries blacked up. As it would ■not be possible) lo obtain those, in Australia, some of them are being brought out by Sir. Aschc lo appear in "Kismet," the necessary arrangements be.ing made with the Commonwealth authorities.

A Play With a Punch. To carry the scent of the hay over tho footlights Has l!io ambition of an author of rural comedy. It was Sir A. Cnmm Doyle's desire, in writing "The House of Temper!.'}'," to do tlio s.llllO with the atmosphere of the prize ring. This he lias accomplished, it is said, with remarkable realism. 'J'lio period of the play is 1812 —thveo years before the Battle of "Waterloo, and while tho Peninsula War was in progress. There aro a number of lights in the play, with the gloves on, but the big scene is the encounter in the ring on Crawley Down. It is a real fight this time, with bare lists. It is tho fight so capitally described in. "Rodney Stone" transferred to the theatre, and is said to be ono of tho most vivid scenes' ever enacted on tho stage. Two well-known Melbourne exponents of tho manly art have been engaged.

Notes. "Magicians are born, not made," says Jansen, Messrs. Portus and Talbot's first star, who will conimenco a season at tho Opera House, Wellingtjn, on March 27. And he ought to know, because ho has been in tho business all his life, and it is now claimed on his behalf that he is in the first flight of the world's legerdemain artists. Apart from the cleanness of his work, there is a feature of Jansen's entertainment that must appeal to everybody. Talking is not one of his strong points. _ Ho does not waste any time. Everything is done with lightning rapidity, and consequently the show is said to go with a 6wing, from start to finish. Otis Skinner has appeared successfully in New York as Hnji in Edward Knoblauch's play "Kismet." The play will lie produced by Mr. Oscar Ascho in Australia, and . possibly New Zealand this coming winter.